Wednesday, 26 February 2014

With the 6 Dominions kicking off this friday I really need to get a move on finishing my team.

In keeping with the spirit of the game I've said that none of the teams need to be painted or even needs to field the correct miniatures, and to be honest if their armed its not too far from the anarchic nature of the game either, I have justed asked people to paint the bases to help minimise confusion.

But to be honest I feel I should field a complete painted team as the organiser.

Today my son was ill so I had to stay home, between the crying and puking (thats from him not me) I managed to finish off another Orc chucker and kicker.

Love the kicker and there is nothing more satisfying then running him up to an opposing player and kicking them in the nuts!

The chucker to the left is actually a 3rd edition blitzer but he is in roughly the right pose so decided to use him.

Time to confuse the opposition (and probably my own team with a passing game.........

Tuesday, 25 February 2014

This is the first and only 3rd editon blocker I will put in the team. Its a cool mini with lots of really nice details, the problem is I already have 3 blockers and I just think they have more character.

This is the first mini I undercoated black (I usually use white), it certainly makes things quicker the paint but not sure a like the way the colours look over the black undercoat. However with this much armour and stuff it made a lot of sense.

Talking of character, check this bloke out

if anyone looks like a Bloodbowl player its this fella. Painted him with slightly boss eyed as it just seemed to suit the look of the figure. Love this mini!!

Thats the green wall all finished. Time to play some smash mouth football..................

Monday, 24 February 2014

Some of the fellas at the Miniature empire have taken an interest in my blog and have expressed an interest in my Blood bowl teams.

One thing leads to another and I am now running a 6 Dominions BTSSNRRO (Blood bowl tournament shameless 6 nations rugby rip off).

Here is the icon for merchandising etc

In keeping with the shameless rip off theme it is shamelessly ripped off from this

Before I know it there are teams approaching "Up yours park" (now the site of the modern "Upton park" in East London), from the lands of the Lizards, orcs, Elves (both male and female teams), humans, Halfling Pygmies (with orge support) and Undead.

I know its 7 teams but Bloodbowl players are really poor counters

Looks like it will all be kicking off next friday so I really need to get a wiggle on with my painting

Sunday, 23 February 2014

on a side note, Lee and Macca had what looked like an epic game of Flames of War going on Friday night. Not my first choice of games as I do not like the idea of turning a world event which is still in living memory into a game but I was in awe of the level of the paint work on such small figures. How they can still see is beyond me!!

Like myself he is an older gamer being reintroduced to the world of Wargaming.

As he had recently bought the Skaven from the Island of Blood starter set I asked if a game would be on the cards and he was happy to oblige, Lano watched over us to keep the pace of the game going.

I particularly wanted to play skaven as Cubantrog is in the process of painting a skaven army here as part of the tale of 4 gamers. Russel (our resident velvet glove of evil) also plays Skaven and is a beast to beat.

I had also heard that the skaven have artillery weapons which cause panic if they inflict wounds etc so I wanted to see them in action.

Initial deployment

once again I opted to leave the wizard on his own to give me some more tactical options. I also chose to use the Fire pack of magic as I wanted the signiture spell to cause panic in the Skaven ranks, and it would be nice to give the skaven a taste of their own medicine

Jerry opted to forfet his move so I decided to be super aggressive as I thought it would disrupt his style of play.

Darkus (my wizard) opened up with both his spells but was largely ineffective. The Demigryphs failed their charge leaving only the Knights to get to grips with the vermin.

I don't know if it is the magnificent paint job but they managed to rout the rats for a loss of 4 Knights and cut them to pieces as they turned to run.

This basically left me sandwiched between two artillery units and the rat orges to my rear. Bit of a squeaky bum time for the Knights.

Jerry manages to throw a double 6 on his magic throw and only causes 1 wound to the gryphs and then his wizard forgets one of its spells!

Now the rats charge the Demigryphs and once again the gryphs prove their worth as they mince the first three ranks of the clan rats at the cost of one wound to the gryphs, they really are nails!

The knights wheel round to face the rat orges, thankfully my General and champion finish off the two figures attacking my flanks (lano informs my I am a very lucky sod with my throws as this could have gone so wrong so quickly!!!), my wizard goes nuts on the orges and kills one and panics the other which legs it off the far table edge!!

Jerry and I shake hands on a well fought game and hope to face off again next sunday.

LESSONS LEARNT;
1) I will definately be buying pistoliers and more knights for my next 250 points.
2) I need to think more about how I can hit big units in the flanks as I think it was more luck then judgement which won me this game.
3) Fire magic is the way to go against swarm armies and gobbo's etc as I need to keep my enemy on the back foot.

Tuesday, 18 February 2014

Had a couple of hours to spare so popped into the miniature empire in the hope of a pick up game.

Damon was in residence and was more to happy to pull out 750points of Orcs to kick off with.

To be honest I could not have picked a better faction to go against as I had been considering how to stop my units from getting tied up against bigger units since my encounter against the lizard men last game.

Initial deployment

Suddenly my 14 figures did not look so intimidating.

As the orcs had no shooty units I took a chance and put my wizard out on his own.

First turns

Gryphs get stuck into a unit of orcs and promptly turn them to mince meat

Magic was largly ineffectual. Had a bit of a shakey moment where I rolled a double 6 but then Damon explained that on dispells it means an immediate dispell not that my head explodes!!

Turn 3

now time to find out if I can mince a big unit before I get bogged down and lose the tactical advantage.

Turns out I can as I inflict massive casualties for the cost of 4 knights and 2 wounds to the gryphs.

A really poor die roll means the orcs break and get wiped out !

then the unit left of picture poop their pants (if anyone would notice with orcs) and leg it off the table.

Damon and I shake hands on a good game.

Lessons learnt.

1) glad i did not buy an orc army as i would never get all those miniatures painted in time
2) need to hit big units as hard a possible with multiple units to clear them off the table as quick as possible or I will quickly lose the tactical edge and the enemy will be able to move around the table at their leasure.
3) do not want to start buying infantry units for my next 250 points so will look to get another unit of knights and some pistoliers to take care of any lone wizards and artillery units as well as increase my number of units.

Next the grpyhs got hold of the skink wizard and made it into a nice hand bag and pair of shoes and what was left of my forces made a valiant effort of it but were soundly beaten by the end of turn six.

Lessons from this game;
1) 11 magic die are great but it goes so wrong so quick,
2) gryphs really are the mustard but can really be showed down by big units
3) shooting is really hard to pull off and my dream of a Henry the 5th style army of longbow men is not a good idea

So today woke up as giddy as a school girl going to a first direction concert as today I would be picking up my 750 points of empire.

So here they all are assembled.

Should be 9 knights and a mount for my compulsary reaper purchase (the wizard).

First impressions were being an old skool player;
1) I am still not sure about resin miniatures, they just do not feel right in the hand, it must be something about the weight.
2) When the hell did miniature come in so many pieces!!!! seriously 8 figures coming in over 100 pieces!!!!
luckily Lano agreed to stick them together for me for a very reasonable price.
3) God damn Demigryphs are expensive!! over 30 quid for 3 pieces of average sized plastic, guess I will only have one unit of these.

Damon kindly agreed to walk me through my first game and maybe it was his expertise but I did enjoy it.

Playing as high elves he shot round my left flank and took some pot shots at my gryphs.

Turns out gryphs are hard as nails, I guess they might be worth the cost.

Then they got stuck into a unit of elves and ripped them to bits

So it turns out Gryphs are absolute beasts.....I know their beasts but I mean absolute beasts in combat. I guess they are going to need extra attention when it comes to painting them.

Next lesson was how effective magic is. Managed to hit a unit of elves with some kind of "thing erupt from the ground and kill everything spell", that might not be its official name. Any way here are the before and after shots

And then the hero and the knights got stuck in and butchered what was left!!

Analysis of my first game;
1) I like it tactically
2) Everything has a chance against everything
3) Magic really is a game changer!!
4) Demigryphs are still silly expensive but I can see how all that hitting power can be seductive

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Fellas down the Miniature empire gaming club are running a fantasy campaign, based on an old White dwarf article called "the tale of 4 gamers". Basically you start with a force of 750 points and have 6 weeks to get everything painted, at some point in the future forces will be upgraded to 1000 pts, 1500pts etc but EVERYTHING has to be painted. Please follow the action here. Lano and Gantam have already knocked out their 750 points here and they look amazing!!

After a really crap day at work yesterday I popped in for just a chat and walked out with 750 points of empire forces (funny how that works). Currently in the process of having them assembled by Lano at the Miniature empire for me (when did miniatures come in so many pieces!!!!!!!) and will look to get them all painted over the half term week off.

Sunday, 9 February 2014

from right to left, Zlog, Wrug, Bugrol, Gnurl and Nigel.....I think it has a certain ring to it.

Zlog is the half brother of Nigel and figured it explained the fact i used the same miniature twice!

Once again went for the different skin tones to add variety to the figures.

Hid poor old Gnurl at the back because it is a naff miniature and it never really inspired me to do a good job but I have owned it for nearly 20 years so figured it should make the cut and get on the team. Got to be honest I think it will always be the last mini to make it on the pitch because it is a god awful miniature.

Feeling all Orced out this week so will be returning to the Gentlemen of the realm next week.

Wednesday, 5 February 2014

Wanted to hold these fellas back but finally there are some 3rd edition Orc miniatures I like.

First signing is Nigel the Half orc. The offspring of a tryst between a very drunk Orc maiden and an even more drunk unknown Human Blood bowl player during the post game celebrations 20 summers ago.

"Having grown up on the Orc side of the wall (more on that in a later post), nigel has had to block harder, stomp dirtier and drink more then any other to prove his orcness all of which has proven to be the perfect training ground for his chosen career".

Finally an Orc lineman worth buying, even with the 2nd edition Lineman i was never impressed but really liked the look of this fella. Went with the flesh tone on a bit of a whim and glad I did. Bit surprised how much like a pig it looks, but the armour looks great and the detailing looks nice (especially the stitched eye). Also the orc face on the armour gives me a theme I can work through the banners, flags merchandise etc.

Also picked up this fella

another of the "expendables". Really enjoying the variation through the linemen and am really happy the way the eyes turned out, you can almost imagine him giving an opposing player the "mad eye" before charging in, just bags of personality in this miniature.

I now have 16 players (including the Troll) and coach. The blitzer will be repainted and there will be extra additions (still looking for the forth blocker) but now have an idea of what I need to get through with regards to finishing off the unwashed, godless green horde of the faerie realm, The Orc team (original I know!!!)

Received two new ebay purchases this week (actually it was a few but these were the only 2 I wanted and the rest will be sold on).

Both are 2nd edition Orc Blockers. I have always loved the blockers and will look to get a full set of 4.

Once again gone for the classic red armour as it looks great as a contrast to the green skin and it will make a strong colour scheme through the 16 models (and possible troll!).

I usually play a smash mouth style of blood bowl as it is in keeping with the ork mentality. With this is mind the blocker to the left has been painted with a black eye and bloody nose. I was going to paint in battle damage etc but figured this is a once a year game and the orcs will kit out their boyz so not to be outclassed by those "rich flash ooman gits"